Strong opposition greets the opening of China's railway link to Tibet

It may be called the Roof of the World but Tibet is poised to become marginally more accessible. The highest railway in the world is due to open today, linking Tibet directly with China for the first time.

12:01AM BST 01 Jul 2006

It may be called the Roof of the World but Tibet is poised to become marginally more accessible. The highest railway in the world is due to open today, linking Tibet directly with China for the first time.

Cutting through inhospitable snow-peaked mountains, the new 710-mile line will connect the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, with Golmud, in the north-western province of Qinghai in China.

More than 90 per cent of the track is in excess of 13,000 feet above sea level, with vast swathes built directly on to the permafrost of the Tibetan plateau. The highest point is the Tanggula Mountain Pass at 16,640 feet. The windows of the single-class trains have been specially designed with airtight fittings to prevent altitude sickness.

The railway line has been completed a year ahead of schedule, but the project has not been without controversy. As many as 50 exiled Tibetans were arrested in New Delhi this week after staging protests against the line's opening.

"There are issues relating to the continued submergence of Tibet into China, the erosion of its cultural identity and, on an economic level, it may destabilise the area," said a spokeswoman for Tourism Concern. "We are not telling people not to go to Tibet, but it is important to know what is going on."

The Free Tibet Campaign is boycotting the project. "By using the railway, tourists will be financially, politically and morally supporting China's efforts to consolidate control over Tibet," it says.

The China-specialist GW Travel is among the first UK tour operators planning to take private groups on the new line this summer.